Things can and will change for recruits
Dayton, Texas offensive lineman Kharylake Martin decided early on in the recruiting process that Arkansas was the school for him but after making an unofficial visit to Fayetteville, Ark., to see the Razorbacks take on Alabama, things have changed.
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Martin admits that the situation is very strange and while he is unsure what quite happened, he doesn’t put too much thought into trying to figure it out.
He is just concentrating on continuing Dayton’s fast 6-0 start to the season.
“Basically, the offensive line coach (Mark Markuson), and I did not see eye to eye,” Martin said. “He implied that I was uncoachable. We didn’t even know each other very well, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.”
The comments from Markuson came as a big surprise to Martin.
“I really have no idea what made him say that,” Martin said.
“I think he was a little pissed off about their loss to Alabama. I’ve never heard of a coach talking to a recruit like that. It just didn’t make sense at all.”
Markuson obviously can’t comment on the situation because he is bound by NCAA rules, so all that we’re able to hear is Martin’s side of the story.
But falling outs like this aren’t all that common in the recruiting process of kids all across the country. Yet, it must be pointed out that teams are not bound to honor commitments and they can move in any direction they want to, which is what it looks like Arkansas has decided to do here.
It's not any different than the kid's right to back off a commitment.
While Markuson would have been his position coach next season at Arkansas, the coach in charge of recruiting Martin was Arkansas quarterbacks coach David Lee. Martin said that he and Lee had a good relationship. Martin called Lee to explain the situation after returning from the unofficial visit.
“I told him all about it,” Martin said. “He said that he was very disappointed about it.”
The situation has caused Martin to jump back into the recruiting scene when he was confident that he had made his decision and he wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.
“A lot of schools backed off when I committed to Arkansas,” Martin said.
“So my head coach is calling the schools and telling them that I am no longer committed.”
Some of the many schools that have continued showing interest through the year are Baylor, Houston and SMU who have all offered.
Others that have not offered are Tennessee, Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU, Texas, and Texas Tech. Martin said that he would like to go to school halfway close to home and that he is open to any school that is interested.
As for his immediate plans, Martin said that he is only concentrating on one thing.
“I can’t do anything about what happened,” Martin said. “I’ll just keep playing. I don’t plan on taking any visits until after the season.”
Martin is sure to get interest from plenty of other schools. He is currently rated a three-star recruit by Rivals100.com, the 39th best offensive tackle in the country and is the 72nd best overall prospect in the state of Texas.